{"id":28342,"date":"2022-03-17T15:09:27","date_gmt":"2022-03-17T21:09:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baonline.cog7engage.net\/?p=28342"},"modified":"2023-08-29T11:33:14","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T17:33:14","slug":"a-coach-for-everyone-tapping-a-resource-you-cant-afford-to-lead-without","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baonline.cog7engage.net\/a-coach-for-everyone-tapping-a-resource-you-cant-afford-to-lead-without\/","title":{"rendered":"A Coach for Everyone! Tapping a resource you can\u2019t afford to lead without"},"content":{"rendered":"

A mentee of mine now has a professional coach<\/a> at his disposal, compliments of the large high-tech company he works for. He didn\u2019t ask for a coach; he was assigned one. And so were everyone else in his division.<\/p>\n

At face value, providing a career coach to its employees is this company\u2019s way of acknowledging the toll the Pandemic has taken on everyone and offering support.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s more behind this strategic move. Beyond responding to the impact of the Pandemic, it is driven by an awareness of the relationship between coaching and the overall success of its employees.<\/p>\n

According to Ken Blanchard, bestselling author of The One Minute Manager<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> \u201cProviding feedback is the most cost-effective strategy for improving performance and instilling satisfaction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coaching the Leaders Who Will Shape the Future<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I came across this quote in Andy Stanley\u2019s book, Next Generation Leader: Five Essentials for Those Who Will Shape the Future<\/em><\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n

Stanley has become an authority on such matters due to his proven success as a pastor and communicator. So, it is of no small interest to me that coaching made his short list of essentials for future-shaping leaders.<\/p>\n

Early in that chapter Stanley makes this bold assertion: \u201cYou will never maximize your potential in any area without coaching. It is impossible. You may be good. You may even be better than everyone else. But without outside input you will never be as good as you can be. We all do better when somebody is watching and evaluating\u201d<\/em> (p. 104).<\/p>\n

To those who assume they\u2019ll automatically get better over time\u2014that age and experience is all it takes, Stanley offers this counsel: \u201cAge and experience don\u2019t necessarily make us better. Age and experience tend to leave us in a rut, doing the same thing the same way with no one around to spur us on toward change\u201d (p. 105).<\/p>\n

Great Athletes and Teams Always Need a Coach<\/strong><\/h3>\n

That\u2019s why great athletes and great teams never perform their way out of needing a coach, and that\u2019s why leaders<\/a>, especially those in the Christian arena, should take stock.<\/p>\n

We tend to think that once our gifts and callings have been identified and we step into a leadership role, we don\u2019t need outside help. But such a notion is miss-guided, to say the least. Probe deep and you\u2019ll discover that every successful leader has had one or two people who aided their success.<\/p>\n

To help us understand the role of a leadership coach, Stanley compares coaching to three familiar disciplines (quotes taken from page 108):<\/p>\n